AISD announces student safety initiative

Teachers and administrators at Austin Independent School District will go through a new student safety training program when class begin again next fall.

Author:
Tina Shively

Published:
10:38 PM CDT May 16, 2017

Updated:
10:42 PM CDT May 16, 2017

Teachers and administrators at Austin Independent School District will go through a new student safety training program when class begin again next fall.

The program comes after a series of assault allegations on AISD campuses.

The district plans to roll out the new mandatory student safety training over the summer, and hopes to continue it throughout the year for any new employees.

Chief Human Capital Officer Dr. Fernando Medina will develop and prepare those training sessions for administrators over the next few months. Administrators will then instruct teachers on campus.

Training topics will include the educator's code of ethics, appropriate student and employee relationships, and reporting child abuse and neglect.

Superintendent Dr. Paul Cruz says it's a necessary component moving forward to help keep families confident that their students are safe at school.

"I want them to talk to their teachers across all of our campuses," Dr. Cruz said. "I want our parents to talk to our Principals if they have questions. Let's get those questions on the table, let's be responsive, I want to make sure we're keeping those lines of communication open."